Capacity Building

The ISI has been actively helping to build capacity in developing countries. The 2013 White Paper on statistical capacity building defines our objectives as:

enabling statistical practitioners in the public and private sectors to use state-of-the-art methods for data collection, analysis and interpretation;
contributing to the development of statistical infrastructure and human resources in official, survey, and business statistics as well as in statistical education and research.

Several workshops have been conducted over the last few years to train senior staff in national statistical offices on improving the quality of statistical information.

The ISI has also funded the organization of workshops and conferences on statistical practice in Africa and Asia. The Bernoulli Society and the ISI have partnered with the University of Oslo to develop a virtual mentoring program for PhD students.

In addition, participants from developing countries have been supported for participation at ISI and Association conferences. These activities have been funded through World Bank Trust Funds for Statistical Capacity Building and by the African Development Bank.

The ISI Strategic Plan 2022-2025 defines capacity building as one of the Strategic Priorities of the ISI.

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES 2022-2025

ISI Online Courses — Core information regarding ISI policy

Courses & webinars

Capacity Building Committee

To accelerate our efforts in developing countries, in 2013 the ISI launched the ISI Capacity Building Committee. Its role is to advise the ISI Executive Committee on the planning, development and implementation of appropriate initiatives, besides promoting them directly.

The Committee’s objectives, as stated above, are very broad and can be seen to cover many of the ISI’s overall objectives. ISI and its Associations should work together more closely and provide good coordination, cooperation and communication with other Statistical Capacity Building providers:

to focus and to clarify the ISI priorities and capabilities,
to define the role of the Statistical Capacity Building Committee more specifically, and
to define our strategic contribution among the other SCB players.

Task force and Committee

In 2018 the ISI Executive Committee (EC) appointed the Task Force. The Task Force was co-chaired by Fabrizio Ruggeri and Irena Krizman. Committee members: Pedro Silva, Misha Belkindas, Eric Vance, David Stern, Matthew Shearing, Delia North, Diane Stukel.

The Task Force prepared the Capacity Building Strategy and Action Plan 2019–2021 and Beyond. To accelerate the Capacity Building activities, the Execuitve Committee has launched this ISI Capacity Building Committee.

Statistical Capacity Building Strategy Action Plan-2019-2021 and Beyond

ISI Workshops on Leadership and Management

The ISI has organized a series of Workshops on Leadership and Management for Heads of NSOs in Africa and Asia. (Coming soon)

Committee Members

Chair

Oliver Chinganya

Director of Statistics Division UN Economic Commission for Africa.

Co-Chair

Matthew Shearing

Consultant in statistical capacity building and data for international development; formerly of the UK’s Office for National Statistics and UNECE Statistics Division.

Member

Eric Vance

Associate Professor and Director of LISA (Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Statistical Analysis) and LISA 2020 at the University of Colorado Boulder, USA (collaboration training and infrastructure to apply Statistics and Data Science)

Member

David Stern

ISI Council Member; Mathematical Scientist and Founding Director at IDEMS International

Member

Misha Belkindas

President of the IAOS; Managing director, ODW consulting; and Co-Founder of Open Data Watch

Member

Rabaa Baniyas

Director of the Statistical Training Institute, Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi, UAE Committee member of the UN Big Data Task Team on Training, Competencies and Capacity Development

Member

Pedro Coelho

Dean and President of the Scientific Board of the NOVA School of Statistics and Information Management, NOVA University of Lisbon

Member

Sally Evans

Business Psychologist and Organisation Development expert; Ex-Divisional Director of Business Data Collection, Capability and Human Resources at the UK’s Office for National Statistics; Founder of Lifebuddy.co.uk

Member

Pali Lehohla

International Consultant in Official Statistics Design and Practice; Research Associate at Oxford University and Consultant to Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI); Professor of Practice at University of Johannesburg; Executive Member of the Indlulamithi Scenarios South Africa 2030; Former Statistician General, Statistics South Africa, Ex-Divisional Director of Business Data Collection / Capability and HR at UK ONS’

Member

Lisa Bersales

Professor of Statistics at the University of the Philippines’ School of Statistics; former National Statistician of the Philippines

Member

Ramesh Srivastava

Consultant in Statistics; UNDP Expert; member of the Royal Statistical Society Professional Affairs Committee; former UN Statistical Training Adviser; Research & Teaching Faculty.

Member

Michel Mouyelo-Katoula

Consultant in statistics and economics. Former positions include: Lecturer in statistics and national accounts; Director of EuroCost, a Luxembourg based agency; Manager of statistical capacity building at African Development Bank; Global Manager of the International Comparison Program at World Bank.

Member

Albina Chuwa

Statistician-General of the United Republic of Tanzania and ISI Council Member

Member

Norah Madaya

International Consultant, Statistical Strategies; Director, Gender Research and DataHub Initiative, Sociologist and Strategic Leadership expert; Former Director, Statistical Coordination Services, Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS).

Member

Lehana Thabane

Professor of Biostatistics at McMaster University; Vice-Present Research, St Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, in Canada; Fellow of the American Statistical Association; Fellow of the Society for Clinical Trials; Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.